A 5.7 quake strikes near the Dominican Republic hours after a smaller quake strikes Haiti

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday, jolting residents awake in the Caribbean country and in neighbouring Puerto Rico.

The quake occurred 38 kilometres southeast of Boca de Yuma at a depth of 168 kilometres, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. No damage was reported.

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are located in a high seismic activity zone, given that the North American Plate and the northeast corner of the Caribbean Plate meet in that area.

A 4.1 magnitude earthquake also struck near Haiti’s capital late Monday at a depth of five kilometres, according to the country’s civil protection agency.

The quake was widely felt in Port-au-Prince and beyond. Officials said no damage was reported.

Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, sits on the intersection of the North American plate and the Caribbean plate.

In August 2021, a 7.2 quake struck Haiti, killing hundreds of people. It occurred along the same fault zone that unleashed a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake in January 2010 that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The Associated Press